he realises we set him up.
“I do.”
Rebecca straightens before pushing open the door, the bell above the door ringing. The blonde-haired receptionist looks up, a smile on her face. “Hello, I’m Jessica. How can I help you today?”
I give her my best smile. “Hello,” I greet.
“You look creepy,” Rebecca mumbles, coughing to cover it up.
Relaxing my smile, I step forward. “I’m Andrew Black’s daughter. I’ve come to drop something off.”
“His daughter?” she repeats, her lips parted. “He hasn’t mentioned you or your appointment. He’s not in today.”
She reaches for the phone and I quickly rest my hand on top of hers. “He hates being disturbed while he’s golfing with colleagues. I only need to drop this off. Which way is his office?”
Rebecca comes to stand by my side, dropping her bag on the table with a thud. “Listen, Jess, we don’t have much time. We’re going shopping.”
Jessica isn’t paying attention though; her eyes are on the bag. “Is that the new Chanel handbag?”
“It is. Did you see the new line?”
“New line?” Jessica breathes out.
I quietly step away from them, leaving Rebecca to talk clothes, and head into the back hallway.
I bite down on my bottom lip when I see a few doors. I’m not sure which one will be Andrew’s, and I don’t have much time. I also can’t risk someone being in one of the other rooms and asking questions.
I walk down the hallway, then roll my eyes as I come to a stop in front of one of the doors. I should have known he wouldn’t have something simple. No, he has ‘A. Black’ carved into a golden plaque.
I lightly knock before stepping in, finding it empty like I had hoped. It’s everything I expected it to be. A cedar desk sits proudly in the centre of the room, a large black chair behind it. There is nothing personal about the office though, except for the picture he has on the corner of his desk of his wife and two children. They look as stuck up as I remember them to be. His wife, who is not much younger than him, needs to lay off the face fillers. Her smile looks more like a grimace.
I don’t give the picture another glance as I move to the cabinets along the side of the wall. Reaching into the first drawer, I see nothing but personnel documents and invoices. I scan through the next, then the next, finding nothing of use to us.
I shove the drawer shut. This is useless. He doesn’t keep anything significant here, and why would he when he has a lot at stake.
“Did you find anything?” Rebecca asks, and I scream, falling against the cabinet.
“Don’t fucking scare me while I’m trying to steal shit,” I snap.
“Shush, before Jessica hears you. She’s distracted at the moment, looking on a designer clearance site.”
“I can’t find anything,” I tell her, gripping my hair. “We’ve done this for nothing.”
“What’s this?” Rebecca asks, picking up a small diary binder.
I rush over to her, nearly tripping over my own feet to see what’s inside. “What’s in it?”
Her smile vanishes and she stares at me, wide-eyed. “Holy fuck. This is exactly what we needed. It seems the guy is old-fashioned when it comes to appointments. He must have changed diaries recently because most of this is last year’s,” she explains, flicking through the pages. “Wait, he had an appointment with the Hayes’ last year?”
I read the page over her shoulder. “Maybe it was when he offered to buy the business.”
“Call him. Tell him where you are, what you have, and that you won’t leave it until he agrees to lift the ban from seeing your mum.”
I pull out my phone, dialling his number. It takes forever for him to answer, but when he does, I hear other men’s voices in the background.
“I hope you have something for me.”
“I do,” I answer, my voice hard. “In fact, I’m outside your office now. I can drop it off or I can put it back where I found it.”
“What do you want?” he grits out.
“I want to see my mum. Today. I’ll wait until the care home calls to say it’s okay. You’ve got five minutes and then I’m leaving.”
I don’t give him a chance to answer and instead end the call, my hands shaking as I bring my phone down to my side. “Did I sound convincing?”
“You did,” she assures me. “This was our only way. After what happened yesterday, there was no way he would